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Microsoft flings the Windows Calculator source at GitHub

Something about calc.exe bugging you? Get in there and fix it

Microsoft has slung the source code for the Windows Calculator onto GitHub under the MIT licence in the hope of building a community around it.

Hopefully some kind-hearted dev will deal with the C and CE symbols not quite lining up with the backspace symbol on the keypad. It's the little things.

The move, announced last night, has seen the project uploaded for devs to review and participate in the development under the standard GitHub flow.

The company previously open-sourced its venerable File Manager application, and developers will already be familiar with .NET Core, the open-source successor to the .NET Framework.

However, Calculator is very much an in-yer-face part of the current Windows 10.

While coders are encouraged to get on board and take part in discussions, fix issues and suggest new features, Calculator will still go through the usual testing, compliance and quality processes before being allowed near the Windows install set.

Microsoft also plans to contribute the custom controls and API extensions used in Calculator to projects such as the Windows Community Toolkit.

Readers with long memories might remember Steve Teixeira, then a general manager in Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group, returning from sabbatical to find himself in charge of in-box apps such as Calculator and asking Twitter what he should do with them.

Reg commenter onefang won the prize for being the first person to suggest: "I'd open-source the little horrors." Your wish, it would seem, is Microsoft's command.

As for Teixeira himself, he is no longer at Microsoft. But when asked if other Windows in-box apps might follow suit, he suggested keeping an eye on Microsoft's Windows blog.

Open-source Media Center, anyone? ®

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